LOS ANGELES–On Sunday, March 8th, women and their allies take over the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Hundreds of freedom-loving people are expected to fill the streets to visibly and openly support women’s issues, lives, and herstories on International Women’s Day.

Two organizations, AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles, have come together to lead this important gathering. This march is particularly unique because it is led by women-identified feminists of color, and it will bring focus to movements around police brutality, trans women’s rights, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and international struggles. Women’s music, dance, and other forms of creative resistance will also take center stage with scheduled performances by artists such as Maya Jupiter, Cihuatl-Ce and more.

Ovarian Psyco-Cycles Brigade, based out of Boyle Heights, is a feminist WOC collective that uses cycling as a means to heal their communities and the earth spiritually, emotionally, and physically through bicycling. They have acquired and maintained an autonomous community space, La Concha, for the past year and run regular programming, workshops, and luna rides. AF3IRM, a transnational feminist, anti-imperialist organization, has worked on issues such as trafficking, migration, and militarism through direct action, advocacy and education for twenty-five years. Both organizations have been recognized nationally for their work and for their contributions to transforming perceptions around women of color.

The idea for the march was sparked by “Women on the Wave,” AF3IRM’s National Summit held in October. That event brought together over four hundred women-identified participants over the course of two days to actively theory-build and envision a new world and the path to liberation. The summit was called in response to what AF3IRM refers to as the “genocide of womankind” – the concerted efforts to not only oppress, but also abuse and murder women, being made locally, nationally, and worldwide.

The International Women’s Day March is a continuation of this fight against the genocide of womankind, because women, particularly women of color, are being systematically obliterated through a myriad of intersecting systems of oppressions – from heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, transmisogyny, imperialism, and more. These oppressions not only harm the holistic health of people, but also that of our mother earth in the process, and AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles know that women have no other choice but to rise up and fight back.

The stories and statistics of women’s experiences around the world are telling – with over 64,000 missing Black women and counting here in the United States; six women killed every day in Mexico; and at least 1,200 missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada. Women and girls are abused and rape, especially in places with conflict like Iraq and Palestine. At any given time, 2.5 million people are trafficked persons globally, with women and girls making up 70% of the total. In the United States, Asian and Pacific Islander women are the largest group trafficked.

The urgency of this call to action has been underscored by AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles’s events up to the march, including educational discussions, lunar ride, open mics, and film screenings. In addition, a diverse list of organizations and collectives have chosen to endorse the event. Over fifty groups, including Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Feminist Majority Foundation, KPFK’s Feminist Magazine, Hollaback LA, the Immigrant Youth Coalition, Mujeres de Maiz, NAPAWF Los Angeles, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Palestinian American Women’s Association, and South Asians for Justice LA, have officially signed on to support the march.

AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles invite all to join them on March 8th for International Women’s Day. This historic march is open to all people willing to defend women and our communities. Attendees should come prepared to voice support for women’s struggles and to honor the legacies and herstories of women. Contingents are currently being formed, including ones for mothers and youth. Those unable to attend the event are encouraged to demonstrate support by donating money or goods (such as water and lposter board) to the march. For more information on how to endorse or to form a contingent or to donate funds or goods, contact losangeles@af3irm.org or ovarianpsycos@gmail.com.

Leading up to and on the day of the march, follow the hashtags #IWDLA2015 and #WhyWeMarch8, as well as AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Both organizations can be found by searching their names on Facebook. For Twitter, follow @AF3IRM and @ovarianpsycos; for Instagram, you can follow @AF3IRM and @ovarian_psycos.

This International Women’s Day March in Los Angeles promises to be an energizing and transformative event that the organizers hope will strengthen the movement for women’s liberation. With this march, AF3IRM and Ovarian Psyco-Cycles have created a space and an opportunity for social justice activists and believers to assert their commitment to the struggle against all forms of violence against women and against the genocide of womankind. There is no better time than now to join the fight.